Innovative legal tools applied in land stewardship for the conservation of ecosystem services in Catalonia

In this paper we analyse how the conservation of ecosystem services (ES) is integrated in Spanish and Catalan legislation on land stewardship. Analysing their implementation in Catalonia, we demonstrate that the legal land stewardship framework has innovative tools that can be supplemented by payments for ecosystem services (PES) and tax incentives toward comprehensive ES protection. By analysing several experiences in Catalonia currently under development, we verify that implementing all of these instruments and encouraging the involvement of public administrations and civil society as a whole is crucial to conserving ES. Overall, we demonstrate the importance of incorporating into law not only ES but also measures available for protecting them and the alternative instruments used to develop them.